State Briefs 4/30/09

PEORIA — For the first time in nearly 20 years, a Peoria man who allegedly killed nine people when he set fire to a mattress at an East Bluff home might be fit to stand trial.

That determination, however, likely will have to wait a few months as Peoria County Circuit Judge Michael Brandt on Wednesday ordered a third opinion after psychiatrists for the state and Joe Pickens differed on whether he was fit to stand trial.

Such a finding isn't a determination of sanity. Rather, it tells whether Pickens, now in his mid-50s, can appreciate what the charges are and whether he can aid in his legal defense.

There have been regular fitness reviews in Peoria County Circuit Court for Pickens, but every report has come back that he is unfit. That is, until now, when a psychiatrist for the state held that he is fit to stand trial. However, another psychiatrist, this time for the defense and the same man who interviewed Pickens some 20 years ago, found he is still unfit.

A hearing was set for May 28, when Brandt will set another date to finish the fitness review, armed with the third psychiatric evaluation of Pickens, who remains committed at a state mental health institution.

Peoria Journal Star

Chamber of Commerce CEO won’t run for governor

SPRINGFIELD – Doug Whitley, who took a leave of absence last fall as president and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce to explore a run for the Republican nomination for governor, said Wednesday he’s out of the race. Whitley will return to his chamber job Friday.

Whitley, 59, a former Springfield resident who now lives in Batavia, said he raised more than $100,000, but he didn’t have enough to keep the race going.

Whitley said he expects to return money left in his campaign fund to donors.

State Journal-Register

Junior high school students sent to hospital after taking prescription pills

GALESBURG – Three ROWVA Junior High pupils were taken out of class and sent to hospital Thursday as a precaution after taking prescription pills at the school.

A spokeswoman for OSF St. Mary’s Medical Center in Galesburg, where the children were treated Thursday, said, “They are all in good condition and we expect they will be released soon.”

ROVWA Superintendent Lloyd Little said one of the pupils brought prescription pills for a stomach disorder into class and gave some of the pills to two schoolmates. The pupil who owned the pills took more than the amount she was prescribed.

Once principal Nancy Hroziencik discovered the pupils had taken the pills a physician was called to the school, Little said. The physician recommended the school send the children to the hospital as a precaution.

The medication the students took was called promethazine, according to Little.

Galesburg Register-Mail

More layoffs take place at Hamilton Sundstrand

ROCKFORD – Hamilton Sundstrand laid off an unspecified number of its 2,200 employees Thursday, the second round of cuts this month as its parent company, United Technologies Corp., sheds 11,600 jobs.

Sundstrand spokeswoman Colleen Carroll said the cuts weren’t focused on one group of employees in the Rockford facility. In most cases, the workers will leave the plant today and be paid through May 15. They’ll also receive outplacement assistance and severance packages based on their years of service.

Hamilton Sundstrand also offered a voluntary buyout package this year to about 500 of its employees. Carroll wouldn’t say how many took the offer but did say some in Rockford participated.

Workers at the Rockford plant design, test and assemble aerospace systems for companies such as Boeing Co. and Airbus as well as the U.S. military.

Rockford Register Star

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.